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Monday, April 1, 2013Urban districts and charter schools are more likely to get F's on report cardsOhio's new grading system is coming in Augustby WKSU's IDA LIESZKOVSZKY

ReporterIda Lieszkovszky

In The Region:

Starting this August, Ohio schools will be graded on a new set of criteria, ones are supposed to be tougher than the current district report cards. As StateImpact Ohio’s Ida Lieszkovszky reports, that means most urban districts and charter schools would get F’s.

Report cards used to rate districts on a scale from “Excellent with Distinction” to “Academic Emergency.” Under the new standards, they’ll be graded on a more familiar A to F scale. And that scale is also supposed to be tougher.

The new report cards will grade schools on measures including students’ performance on standardized tests, graduation rates, and how much academic progress students make in a year.

Projections from the Ohio Department of Education show the big eight urban school districts – including Cleveland, Columbus, Toledo and Cincinnati – will get F’s in many areas. Same goes for many charter schools.

It’s not a big surprise that the state’s urban districts and charter schools wouldn’t fair well under the new standards. In fact, an estimated three-fourths of districts statewide are expected to slip in the rankings once the first full set of new report cards is released.

The new standards will be put in place starting this year, though districts won’t get an overall grade until 2015.